Louise Rebic Shanahan (1929 – 2022)

Louise Rebic Shanahan was born on May 26, 1929, in Cleveland, Ohio, and passed from this earth to the merciful judgment of the Lord on June 16, 2022, in Front Royal, Virginia where she was living with her son Ned Shanahan.

She was the beloved daughter of Mary (née Helmetz) and Joseph Thomas Rebic and sister to Robert J. Rebic and Maryanne Rebic, all deceased. She is survived by her four children, Kathleen de Mesa (John), Maureen Shanahan (Diana Haddad), Ned Shanahan (Alka), and Moira Shanahan (Michael Friendly), five grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

Louise Shanahan graduated salutatorian from Case-Western Reserve University, received a master’s degree in English from the University of California at Los Angeles, and pursued doctoral studies in English literature at Stanford University. She worked as a freelance writer for the National Catholic Reporter and for James Dobson of Focus on the Family. She published five books on Catholic family life, four co-authored with Dr. James J. Rue, a California leader on Catholic family counseling.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to Catholic Family News, MPO Box 743, Niagara Falls, NY 14302, or to The Fatima Center USA Inc., P.O. Box 1470, Buffalo, NY 14240-9935.

A Requiem Mass will be held at 11:00 am in the Chapel of Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church, 120 West Main Street, Front Royal, VA 22630-2522. Phone: (540) 635-3780. The mass will be preceded by a visitation to begin at 10:00 am. Reception to follow in the basement of the church. She will be buried at Good Hope Cemetery, 831 Happy Creek Road, Front Royal, VA.